Search Results for 'Alan Brogan'

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Mayo were 10 points to the good on Sunday early in the second half, leading 0-17 to 0-7, and yet they were reduced to stumbling over the finish line to win by three. Had David Clarke not made a tremendous save in a one-on-one with Bernard Brogan near the finish, which would have levelled the game, it would probably be Dublin who would be facing Donegal in the All-Ireland final.

It has taken a little over 210 minutes of championship football to get here. Leitrim, Sligo and Down all stood in the way, but were not up to the challenge. On Sunday things get very real, but this is what Mayo have been preparing for ever since the final whistle blew in the same venue in last year’s All Ireland semi-final against Kerry. They are back to where they want to be, their fourth championship game in a five game series they hope will end in victory and a place in the All Ireland final for the first time in six years and another crack at bringing Sam Maguire back to Mayo. But that is another battle to be fought at a later date, and all that will be on Mayo minds on Sunday is the game ahead of them.

I think Mayo have a great chance of beating the Dubs on Sunday. Luke Dempsey called earlier in the week to discuss Mayo’s chances. He too believes Mayo will win. He suggested that the Dubs need twice as much possession as most teams to manage a victory. He believes many of their players are lacking in some of the fundamental skills of the game. I too have suggested that many of the Dublin footballers appear to be manufactured footballers, ie, many are not naturally talented. Of course they are much better than the three teams we have played in this year’s campaign so far, but are the Dubs that good? I do not think so.

In his time as a Mayo player Andy Moran has been involved in some incredible highs, such as the 2006 All Ireland semi-final where he came off the bench and scored the goal that turned that game back in Mayo's favour and lows, like the that day in June in Pearse Park, Longford two years ago. Through it all he's always been looking forward to the next challenge, not looking back. A couple of minutes after coming off the field on Saturday night, he was asked was it nights like this he played football for and he responded saying, “I play for just for playing all the time, nights like tonight is great, but it was great going back on to the training pitch on Tuesday trying to fix what went wrong last week and I think in the second half we did that there tonight.” While he enjoyed the win, there's not many other players about who would say that they equally enjoyed getting back on the training field as much as beating the All Ireland champions in front of 10,000 of your own fans.

I was at the two under 21 semi-finals in McHale Park last Friday evening. It was a wonderful evening for football and the football on view was good too. The first game between Aughamore and the combined forces of Hollymount and Carramore had a dramatic finish. For long periods Aughamore looked the dominant side and appeared to be cruising to a fairly comfortable victory, but the Holly/Carra boys never stopped believing in themselves and persevered right to the very end. They finished strongly, eventually winning by two points. The Aughamore boys appeared shocked that they had not managed to close out the game and they will scratch their heads for a while yet wondering how they managed to let this one slip away.

Following their impressive 1-20 to 0-18 victory over Armagh on Sunday, the Galway seniors face Pat Gilroy’s Dublin in Pearse Stadium this weekend. If Galway win, and other results go their way, they could avoid relegation to division two.

Mayo GAA clubs are invited to take on GAA stars Seán Óg Ó hAilpín and Alan Brogan in the Suremen Challenge this August. The Suremen Challenge tests club players’ GAA football and hurling skills and accuracy using the specially created Suremen Challenge Accuracy Screen – a large screen that features holes of varying sizes for precision scoring.